Courage and Curiosity
by Zoe-kun
Summary: Neville/Luna. He'd never plucked up the courage to actually let her know how he feels, but Prefect duty might just be the perfect time. Rated M for later lemon.


**A/N: My first Harry Potter fic! I've always been inspired by Luna, Neville makes me laugh and I've had a crush on him ever since the Chamber of Secrets, so here goes my first fic :3 And beware, it will be smutty, so please leave now if you no likey. This will probably be a two or three-shot, as I like to write a non-smutty chapter first then put my all into the lemon. So please don't be disappointed, just be patient x3**

**And yes, Follow You Home will be updated soon, for all you KakaSaku/Naruto fans, I'm just trying to map out the next instalment in my head before I go ahead and write chapter number 4. **

**Also, I probably should've done this for my previous fics, but the link for the cover image is: wiki/File:Harry_Potter_-_ **

**Thank you and please let me know what you think!**

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><p>Chapter I<p>

Neville couldn't quite believe it when he received a shiny red and gold Prefect badge along with his Hogwarts letter that summer. To put it politely, he'd never have thought that Dumbledore would've entrusted the guarding of the school to someone as clumsy and cack-handed as he was; but he guessed he had his strong points. He wasn't half-bad in Herbology, for one thing.

After the customary start-of-term feast that was as famous as it was delicious, Professor Dumbledore called all the new Prefects into a small chamber off of the Great Hall to give them their Prefect timetables and relay to them their duties for the year.

It turned out that among those chosen for the position were Draco Malfoy, whom Neville hated with a passion and tried to avoid at all costs, Harry Potter who needed no introduction, and Luna Lovegood. The latter was both a mystery and the cause of a lot of emotions in Neville's head.

His family had always had a suspicion that Neville was gay. They tried not to talk about it when he was there, but whenever he came home for the summer they'd always ask him things like:

"Any nice girls at Hogwarts?"

"Got a girlfriend yet, Neville?"

To be fair, it's not like his family were against homosexuality or anything, but just that he never seemed to talk about relationships full stop. He'd always been quite reserved and socially awkward, thus he never got the confidence to speak to girls or make a move.

This didn't mean that he didn't have any feelings for anyone. He'd been stewing over Luna for around a year now, but he never thought he was good enough for her. She was a combination of beauty, mystery and innocence, and always managed to ensnare Neville's senses whenever she was around. She'd always make converstation about the most random of topics which made a lot of people think she was crazy, but he just thought that she was funny and slightly whimsical.

The subject of his daydreaming woke him from his reverie with a shake of his arm:

"Neville, _Neville! _Wake up, Professor Dumbledore's telling us our shifts!" Luna whispered, discreetly pointing at the bearded wizard at the front of the room.

"Sorry" he mumbled and refocused his mind on what he was supposed to be doing. He only managed to catch little bits of what Dumbledore was saying in between his musings of how Luna's hair seemed to give off its own glow or how she had a flush to her cheeks when she turned to talk to him. He'd already seemed to have missed out on half of the speech.

"Now, Mr Malfoy; you'll be doing Wednesday afternoons after class and Thursday lunchtimes next to the Great Hall along with Miss Parkinson." Looking up at the blonde Slytherin in question, Dumbledore noticed that the Malfoy heir wasn't in the least bit pleased about this, for it was common knowledge that Draco _was_ gay, and couldn't stand Pansy. When he opened his mouth to protest, the headmaster put his hand up to call for silence and carried on.

"Friday nights, Saturday nights and Wednesday lunchtimes at the bottom of the Astronomy Tower will be patrolled by both you, Mr Longbottom," he looked up over his half-moon spectacles at Neville, as Neville held his breath and wondered who he'd be with, "and Miss Lovegood." At this, Neville released a shaky breath and avoided looking into Luna's eyes for the rest of the speech.

Luna, however, seemed happy about this. She grabbed Neville by the arm and grinned at him.

_Luna?! _He thought, _this is a blessing and a curse! How on Earth am I going to be able to keep my mind on making sure nobody's up and not make a fool of myself in front of her? _

Before he could do just that, Neville got up, turned his back on the rest of the Prefects, and strode out of the door.

Once he was in the Gryffindor Common Room, he allowed himself some time to just think. _Yes, I'm on duty with Luna, but what's the worst that could happen? _

_I make a fool of myself, we carry on. End of. It's not like she's that new to being out of the ordinary. She seems to take that stuff fairly well._

With this new resolve, he figured that he'd sit out the rest of the week and try and be calm about the whole thing. It could be a good opportunity for him to confront his feelings for her if he played his cards right. Just the thought of the damn thing made his hands sweat, much to his annoyance. He needed to get his emotions in order before anything else.

With that, Neville thought that he'd get a decent night's sleep in before tomorrow's lessons. Taking a look at his new timetable, he saw that he had triple Potions first thing tomorrow morning. He thought he'd better make sure he's up in time, otherwise Snape will make him wish he was never born.

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><p>-Friday Night, at Precisely 9pm-<p>

_There she is. Remember not to lose it, Longbottom._

"Hey, Neville."

"Oh, hey, Luna."

Neville sat down at the foot of the staircase, a fair distance away from Luna but close enough so that they both had a decent view of the corridor. He was visibly sweating; it was lining the nape of his neck, which was gently illuminated by the moon shining through the long window.

Luna started to wonder what was wrong; it was quite a cool September night, and there was a breeze.

"What's up? You look really nervous, Neville. Have the Nargles got you again?"

_Screw this. I can't keep breaking down like this every time we're on duty, I've got to tell her._

In between deep breaths, he said "Luna – I've wanted to say this – for ages…"

Quirking an eyebrow, Luna eyed him curiously. _What on Earth's got him this worked up? _

"Neville, what's wrong?"

"I – erm, erm – I l-lo"

"Yes?" She moved slightly closer to him.

"Well – I, er, love you."

She was speechless.

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><p><strong>Please let me know what you think. I'm not sure whether to do a Luna POV next or just get on with the lemon. Thank you for reading it :3<strong>


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